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Open Index Protocol
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The open, permanent index for the web

Open Index Protocol (OIP) is a neutral data layer for publishing, discovering, and verifying content on permanent storage. It combines cryptographic identity, tamper‑evident records, and flexible templates to power search and apps across networks.

DID‑signed
Arweave + Elasticsearch
Composable records
Data flow schematic

Templates

Schema‑mapped records for any media, article, or object.

DID Sign

Creators sign once. Nodes verify and index.

Index

Elasticsearch powers fast discovery and RAG.
Example: Scribes of Alexandria
Archive news articles to Arweave. Publish OIP records with AI summaries. Search locally or across federated nodes.

What is Open Index Protocol?

A public, permanent catalog for content and data. OIP standardizes how records are described, signed, stored, and indexed. It is transport‑agnostic and storage‑agnostic with first‑class support for Arweave and search via Elasticsearch.

Tamper‑evident records mapped to templates
DID‑based identity and signature verification
Flexible remapping for per‑app schemas
Federated search and local preference resolution

Core Layers

Identity → Records → Storage → Index → Resolve

Identity
DID documents and keys sign messages. Third parties may pay to publish signed payloads without custody of the key.
Records
JSON mapped to templates with enums, drefs, and indices. Remapping allows app‑specific views.
Storage
Arweave for permanent media and metadata. Content‑addressed references tracked in records.
Index
Elasticsearch indices for templates, records, and creators. Fast search and RAG.

History

OIP began as the Decentralized Library of Alexandria. Its trajectory spans open media indexing, scientific data, and public records. Selected milestones below.

Decentralized Library of Alexandria (DLoA)

2014–2015

Project inception, initially as ArchiveChain & MovieCoin. Combined BitTorrent locators with an on‑chain index on the FLO blockchain via early OIP work. As far as publicly documented at the time, this was the first system to publish P2P file addresses with structured metadata on a decentralized ledger (open to correction with sources).

See first demo.

Presented Proof of Concept at Decentralized Web Summit

2016

Internet Archive's first DWeb Summit. A demo of DLoA: serverless, ad-free, censorship-resistant media with P2P delivery, on-chain index, and Bitcoin micropayments. Sir Tim Berners-Lee took the mic after and called it "thrilling." DWeb Summit gathered builders of the decentralized web to advance open protocols and user-controlled data. Early user Imogen Heap let us include her new track at one penny per stream in the demo.

Watch presentation.

Teton County land records

June 2019

Medici Land Governance onboarded ~185k historic documents to a FLO‑based registry using the OIP stack. First U.S. county to record land information on a blockchain platform.

Watch demo.

Visit website.

Caltech publishes scientific datasets with OIP

2018–2019

The Jensen Lab at Caltech anchored scientific datasets using OIP, operating a blockchain‑backed public database for electron tomography.

Watch presentation.

PLoS One paper: "A blockchain-based distributed public database for electron tomography".

Carbon County expansion

2020

Second Wyoming county adopts a blockchain‑backed land records platform modeled on Teton County's implementation.

Ecosystem growth

2020–2025

Caltech scientist develops an intermediate layer between OIP and front ends called Decentralized Database of Anything (DDX). Researchers at MIT & Berklee School of Music reference OIP in a paper about music publishing, Scribes of Alexandria and Fitness Ally are developed, and some high profile content creators adopt OIP to power the backend of their websites for permanent, searchable records.

DDX documentation.

OSF paper: "DDX: An Interface To Interoperable Scientific Gateways".

arXiv paper: "Towards an Open and Scalable Music Metadata Layer".

Claims of "firsts" reflect best‑available public records; please share sources if you have corrections.

How it works

The protocol is simple by design. It treats identity, structure, and permanence as first principles. Everything else composes on top.

Define a template

Specify fields, enums, and indices. Include drefs for nested structures.

Sign a record

Create JSON per template. Sign with your DID keys. Keep keys off the indexer.

Publish to Arweave

Upload media and metadata. Reference TXIDs and content hashes from the record.

Index & resolve

Nodes verify signatures, map fields to ES, and resolve drefs per user preferences.

Features

DID‑based verification

Message signatures bind records to creators. Delegated publish supported.

Composable templates

Map any domain. Remap per app. Drefs for nested references.

Search‑first index

Elasticsearch shards for templates, creators, and records. Fast queries and RAG.

Permanent storage

Arweave for durable media. Content addressing for integrity and portability.

AI‑ready

Templates standardize inputs. Records power summarization, agents, and RAG pipelines.

Production‑proven

Used by Scribes of Alexandria, Fitness Ally, and more in active builds.

Learn More

Ecosystem

OIP is storage‑agnostic and app‑agnostic. These projects illustrate composability across publishing, indexing, and AI.

Scribes of Alexandria

Browser extension that archives articles to Arweave and publishes OIP records with AI summaries and tags.

Visit website.

Fitness Ally

Meal plans and workouts as OIP records. Normalized nutrition templates. Private + shared indices.

Visit website.

Alexandria (OIP's Open Source Reference Client)

Decentralized content browser using OIP search across federated nodes and local caches.

Visit website.

Use cases

News & Research

  • Archive sources permanently
  • Publish AI summaries and citations
  • Search by entities, topics, and provenance

Media Catalogs

  • Albums, videos, podcasts as structured records
  • Creator registrations and royalties metadata
  • Federated discovery across nodes

Knowledge Graphs

  • Drefs link records across schemas
  • Local preference resolution
  • RAG pipelines consume normalized JSON

Commerce & Access

  • NFT or subscription metadata without lock‑in
  • External payment rails recorded for audit
  • DID signatures for entitlement proofs

FAQ

Build with OIP

Spin up the reference indexer. Point to Arweave gateways. Expose the API layer for templates and records. Start composing.

Define a template
POST /templates { name, fields, indices }
Publish a record
POST /records { template, data, signature }
Search
GET /records?query=...
Resolve drefs
GET /records/:id?resolve=true

Reference stack

Node.js + Express • Arweave • Elasticsearch • DID

Indices: templates, records, creator registrations
Remapping: per‑app schema overlays with versioned files
Drefs: nested references resolved by user or node preferences
Sign/Verify: DID documents and public keys
OIP Wiki API Docs